Keeley Thomson (Book 2): Keelzebub (15 page)

When she opened her eyes she felt peppy and happy, energetic, but otherwise normal. She just worked until everything was done, using the ladder alone where needed, carrying tables and chairs out of the supply closet and setting them up. When she finished it was seven-thirty and she was pretty well drenched with a thick coating of sweat.

Oops. Really gross. She laughed and tried to get out of their without being seen. The janitor did, but the man just nodded to her, as if it was normal to see teen girls sweating in the gym. If he thought that he’d never attended a gym class at Raintree. Most of the girls in them barely moved at all. Keeley didn’t even bother with it, taking chemistry instead.

The drive home was a little uncomfortable, being sticky, and the seat got damp. She needed to shower and change before heading out to check on the catering and set up she decided.

She was met in the living room by Charles, who glared at her at first, then tilted his head after a second.

“Are you alright?” He sounded baffled rather than worried.

“Yeah, had to finish the dance decorating alone, the cheerleaders were doing it, but they had to go and you know, cheer. Got it done though. I need to get out of here in about ten minutes, which won’t really work… Gah.” She smiled. “Argh? One of those. Are you and mom going to help chaperone the Raintree party?”

Her father nodded, giving her a serious, but not displeased look.

“Yes, a lot of Coretechs people are going. The word kind of came down through channels that we need to show a solid front as a community right now, and since Coretechs is one of the biggest local employers that means us. This is turning into something a lot bigger than I thought it would be to tell the truth. And here my daughter is, running the whole thing. Great bragging rights come Monday, as long as no one get’s stabbed.” Charles raised a skeptical eyebrow though.

“And what’s this I hear about girls flashing people?” He didn’t glare at least.

“Yep. We told them that there would be some nudity to get people to show up. No drinking. I might have to. Flash, not drink. Not that anyone wants to see what I’ve got. Darla’s going to as well, but only at the event with the most people. Well, I might be too young so there’s that. I meant to get with Chief Benson on the idea. He might just nix that one. I’ll do that now. Thanks for reminding me.” She acted like the whole thing was over, which Charles clearly didn’t think it was, and went to the phone to call Roy’s cell.

Her dad didn’t yell at her at least. Being on the phone with the Chief probably had that effect in general. She said her name a bit tiredly and just asked what the rules were on things like that. The Chief sighed.

“I’d rather you didn’t, to tell the truth. As much fun as it would be for the boys, I really don’t think we want that in the papers. Not with teen girls doing it. No one would get arrested for it, but… If you do anything, keep it low key and try to make sure no one under eighteen is involved? Which pretty much means don’t do it. Sorry to be so sensible on you, but, well, half of PR management is stopping people from having fun. At least in my job.”

“OK, so the answer is no, in general at least, unless important. Got it. I’ll spread the word. We need something cool to offset that then. Kind of hinted that there would be something sort of naked going on. Giving away cash already, so if you think of anything, please let me know?”

“I’ll ask for ideas.” Then he hung up. Abrupt, but he didn’t sound too upset.

Keeley turned back to her dad.

“Well, good. I’m kind of shy that way. The idea was starting to freak me out a bit. Oh, hey, I was going to give all that old wine that you and mom hate to the Caterer’s. They said that they’d take it and could use it for cooking. Is that alright? I wanted to give them a little something extra, they’ve really been pulling out the stops trying to get things done on very short notice.”

“Alright… We’re not going to drink it anyway…”

The voice faded as Keeley ran to take a shower.

It was going to be a long night.

So very, very long.

Chapter eight

Showered and changed, hair still damp, Keeley wondered if she had time to use the hair dryer. It was going to be chilly out and having a wet head wouldn’t be very pleasant. It would take about ten minutes to dry her hair, but she decided it was worth the effort. She couldn’t really afford to waste even a moment though.

Keeley sighed and got dressed in a rather plain black t-shirt that had nice red short sleeves. It was new, and fit fairly well, hugging her torso tightly. She hadn’t worn a bra, but that probably wouldn’t make a difference, given how small she’d gotten in the last week. They’d been a solid B-cup before, but now she really did look a bit like a boy. She’d burned up too much of her body fat. They weren’t droopy at least. Well, nothing to be done about that either…

Or was there?

Darla had mentioned that it was so easy to make breasts larger that even human girls could do it. Under hypnosis at least. It was pretty much just causing the tissue to swell a bit, right? Closing her eyes she focused on her chest, trying to feel them as heavy, swollen and pushing against her shirt. Growing. It wasn’t an instant thing, but after about five minutes they actually ached a little. Looking down she saw why.

 They were huge.

Not actually, but they weren’t an A-cup now and she sure didn’t look like a boy. At least a C-cup and in this shirt it really showed too. Smiling she brushed her hair and had to make them not hurt, so she could get through the evening. If she could do that much, and it made sense that she could, then a lot of shape changing seemed a lot more possible suddenly. Remodeling bone would probably take a lot longer, but the basic idea was there, wasn’t it?

Of course her chest really wasn’t this big and it would slip over time if she didn’t hold the idea in mind. Swollen with fluid, which strained the skin a little, but not fat, which would stick around long term. Until she burned it off.

She threw on a sued jacket and grabbed the keys, making it out the door before either of her parents could see her. It would be hard to explain that she was suddenly that different. If they noticed. They might not, she knew. Or they might have thought she just stuffed her bra. The one she clearly wasn’t wearing, just in case she did have to lift her shirt. It really was embarrassing as a thought, until she clamped it down.

Demon.

Human rules didn’t apply, not to her. Right?

Right.

At least the ones she didn’t want to bother with. That was, as far as she could tell, kind of the whole mindset. Even Darla had her moments like that, and really, Keeley had a feeling her sister was being on best behavior for now, so she wouldn’t be too scary or different. For her.

It wasn’t anything too big that gave it away, just some things on the edges, like Roy asking if she wanted to come over for sex with him and his wife. Or mentioning what human beings tasted like. Some small hesitations as if censoring herself at times. That kind of thing.

The closest event site for the evening was about a block from Raintree, so Keeley headed there first, to find a team of six people setting up, the whole thing directed by Clara, who looked a little blockier, dressed in all white, with a dorky looking white cap, kind of like a fez. No tassel on the top though. The others dressed the same way, but had black pants or on one woman, black jeans. No one would care about that, since it was a teen party, not a state dinner. If anything they all looked overdressed. Unless people came straight from the dance, then they were about perfect.

The place had been transformed though.

Instead of a small space with some playground equipment and some decently cared for grass, there were lines of glowing LED “torches” stuck in the ground every ten feet or so along the perimeter, some bamboo screens had been put up and the whole place filled with fake plants.

OK, it wasn’t exactly something that screamed teen party but it looked really nice. Keeley grinned as she walked up to Clara.

“This looks wonderful! Are all the sites like this?” It hadn’t been in the plans, but the other woman looked down suddenly, avoiding eye contact, and murmured softly enough Keeley had to lean in to hear the words.

“No Master. Each has a different theme. We had the materials on hand. As nice… I think.” She sounded horribly scared on the last line, as if saying that would be a problem.

Keeley leaned in a little closer.

“Well, it’s far more than I expected with this short a time to get the work done. I’m going to go to all the sites, but I don’t think there will be a problem. Oh, before I go…”

Keeley led her over to the trunk of her car, pushed the button on the key chain to get it open, only to find the woman, the Hsreth, cringing away. Keeley got it, she was a scary Demon and who knew what she might do. Or what she might pull from the trunk. Understanding the facts still didn’t leave her feeling happy about it. She relaxed and let that fade. Life was a lot easier without worrying, she decided. She’d have to keep that in mind.

“This is all for you and Glen. Here.” The box of wine bottles got handed over, and quickly loaded into one of the white vans the company transported things in. So did the beer, three eighteen packs.

It felt nice to be rid of them. She’d half been convinced one of the cops would see her with it and try to arrest her. That would put a crimp in her work schedule though, so now she could just skip that part.

“Now, I have to run to check on things, out of a misplaced sense of micromanagement, that probably isn’t needed at all. Then I’ll come back here and tell you how things are going. Should take until about ten-thirty or so. The real parties shouldn’t start before then. Anything you think I should know?” The words were confident, but not too bossy. Keeley wanted to sound like she just expected to get her own way, without being a pain about it. Being enslaved to another’s will just couldn’t be fun, could it? No need for her to be annoying about the whole thing.

“You must watch the Gatherer, Master. No Greater Demon, true, but a power to be contended with all the same. This one is very old, as you no doubt already know. She was sore angered by you removing us from her power and influence.” The woman sounded slightly scared again. “Though she doesn’t understand what you are. We didn’t explain when she came to enforce her will upon us. We didn’t know what you’d wish on the matter and so pretended it had nothing to do with you. She guessed anyway. Used an artifact to find your vehicle. She called and told us this, as a threat.” The fear wasn’t about Edith Givens though, it was clearly all about her.

“No need to fear me Clara, just work with me and we’ll both benefit from it. I’m known for being kind to my friends. Enemies not so much though. So Edith has been a busy girl? Good to know. Anything else I should be aware of?”

The woman nodded, “there will be attempts to spike the punch. It won’t affect the soda machines. How do you wish that handled?”

“If you see it about to happen, stop it, gently and without harm to anyone. If you cannot, report it to the officers that will be here. Try to keep at least one container of punch free of anything like that. Understood?”

“Yes Master.” The woman looked down humbly. Of course. In her world a Greater Demon was to be feared, totally, all the time.

“Not in public please. Just Keeley. Now I’d best get to it if I don’t want to miss half the festivities. I do wonder if anyone will really show up though. Well, you get paid either way, so there’s that.”

The woman bowed which got some funny looks from her employees.

Keeley bowed back, making an exaggerated hand motion as she did, “laugh Clara. People are watching.”

They giggled about the bowing like schoolgirls and then she managed to finally get into the rental and get out of there. It wasn’t hard to find the other events, thanks to GPS, and the set up was decent at all of them. Wilson High had the nicest, to her eyes at least, it looked like a ballroom with fine red covered tables and sparkling lights set up on trellises to form a closed space. The others had been good too though.

Just as she turned to leave, since it was just before eleven and a few people had actually started showing up, Keeley caught sight of a familiar blond head. One that shouldn’t have been there at all. He was hidden behind one of the nice light fixtures, with another boy. Both were fit and both had dressed for a dance. Their dates weren’t there though. Not at all.

Sighing Keeley walked around the back and strode over calmly, smiling a bit.

“Gary, Quince. How nice of you to come to the party. This is the wrong one, of course, so I take it you didn’t come just for some extra dancing.” Gesturing at them a little she winked, hating herself for doing it, but knowing that it would seem funny.

“You both look great by the way. Did the dance go well? For that matter, who won the game?” She didn’t give them a lot of chance to answer, taking both by the hand and walking away back toward her own car.

Both of their lives crashed into her, Gary’s was a little filled with raw emotion at the moment, Quince though nearly washed that all away, with an overwhelming avalanche of history and pain. She had to lock it away just to prevent blacking out from the overload. What was clear was that both had come for different reasons.

Well, the same reason.

Vengeance.

Just different events to go along with them. Gary because of Rob, of course. Quince was there for the Gatherer though. It had taken him a long time to narrow down where she was, but he’d found her and intended to take something of his back.

Something she’d “collected”.

His brothers.

Gary tried to resist her for a moment, but she just kept walking, trying to use persistence to get him away from danger. Quince was on his own, but Gary was Darla’s, which meant kind of someone that she had to look out for too.